Education improvedDean of the College of Ethnic Studies Kenneth Monteiro commented on the history of ethnic studies and the effort to bring diversity to higher education in a Nov. 29 KALW Radio San Francisco interview. "If all it (ethnic studies) did is expose people to a broader range of… the intellectual, cultural contribution of a greater portion of the world -- a portion of the world that demographically is the majority of the world -- it would be doing a whole bunch," Monteiro said. But it also "creates spaces where people can think creatively, not just regurgitate facts given to them to serve somebody else."

Constrained policyAssistant Professor of International Relations Mahmood Monshipouri wrote about the foreign policy challenges of President Obama's second term in a Nov. 28 Tehran Times op-ed. "Historians and political scientists caution of the persistent gap between U.S. values and interests, as policy reality often contradicts aspirational rhetoric… the exercise of pragmatism in foreign policy requires adopting a muddling through approach that tends to differ from one case to other. Since President Obama operates in such a setting, nothing resembling a substantially different foreign policy should be expected from him in the next four years," Monshipouri argued. "There is still plenty of ground for optimism if the Obama administration’s pragmatic instincts kick in."